Post
"This wasn’t their first attempt: back in 2018, Napa’s founder Tim Busch helped fund the 'Red Hat Report,' using former FBI and CIA agents to dig up dirt on progressive cardinals seen as potential successors to Francis, particularly regarding abuse cases.
This year, similar smear tactics surfaced, with Trump’s former Vatican ambassador Brian Burch reportedly backing a false health rumor about Cardinal Pietro Parolin, a leading contender."
As Rogue DNC reports,
"During 'America Week,' wealthy Catholic donors hosted VIP events in Rome, with promises of $1 billion in donations if the 'right pope' was elected. Groups like the Napa Institute, a MAGA-aligned network, led the charge."
"This wasn’t their first attempt: back in 2018, Napa’s founder Tim Busch helped fund the 'Red Hat Report,' using former FBI and CIA agents to dig up dirt on progressive cardinals seen as potential successors to Francis, particularly regarding abuse cases.
This year, similar smear tactics surfaced, with Trump’s former Vatican ambassador Brian Burch reportedly backing a false health rumor about Cardinal Pietro Parolin, a leading contender."
"But the strategy collapsed. Cardinals ultimately united around Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, who helped push Francis’ historic reform adding women to the Vatican’s bishop-nomination process."
"'The election of an American Pope, the first American Pope … there’s a signal here that the church is taking a side in what’s happening around the globe,' said Steven Millies, a professor at Catholic Theological Union. …
'We are watching authoritarianism swell in all parts of the globe, but is fueled most visibly by the Trump administration in Washington, D.C.,' Millies said."
~ Jack Jenkins
“The election of an American pope, the first American pope … there’s a signal here that the church is taking a side in what’s happening around the globe.”
A space for Bonfire maintainers and contributors to communicate
